A round-up of e-commerce innovation and trends in 2021

The number of online shops has increased in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic has led many brands and physical outlets to move into e-commerce. According to information from sendcloud, 36% of European consumers are thinking of switching to online shopping after Covid-19. Traditional retailers, on the other hand, have seen a 60% drop in sales.

An industry survey by Euromonitor International found that 72% of retail professionals said the health crisis accelerated their digitalization plans by at least one to two years and 21% said Covid accelerated their plans by at least three years. This is why innovation in e-commerce is essential.

From these percentages, it is clear that e-commerce has become an important part of the daily lives of many retailers and consumers. Hence the interest in knowing what the current trends and innovations in e-commerce are.

Teleshopping 2.0

Originally, teleshopping is a marketing technique that presents and sells products and/or services through television. The main objective of teleshopping is to sell at a distance. Whether it is through the telephone, television, or the Internet.

It should be noted that previously, teleshopping was only reserved for television broadcasters. But in recent years this technique has been democratized thanks to access to the Internet.

In concrete terms, each retailer can now interact directly with a local or international audience. How can they do this? By presenting their products and/or services themselves thanks to Live Stream Shopping. Just like in a TV broadcast, they can present products for sale, live, via their websites or social network pages.

Sellers can interact with customers via a chat and customers can buy directly from the seller. Without the need for an intermediary.

Ethical e-commerce

Ethical e-commerce is a practice that aims to highlight commitments such as eco-responsibility, transparency of prices and processes, corporate values, and respect for human beings. In other words, ethical e-commerce is an online sales activity that respects social and environmental criteria.

This ethical character takes into account the inclusion of all people affected by a disability or in a particular situation. Furthermore, the ethical dimension also introduces the consideration and recognition of human beings in the value chain of online activity.

Thus, ethical e-commerce consists of adopting eco-responsible practices through which consumers will be informed about the origin of their purchases and their manufacture.

For example, we work with a brand called Sleepit. Sleepit offers pillows for sale that are handmade in Italy. The brand has chosen to manufacture the pillows only when you place an order. This avoids the phenomenon of overproduction. This is called “pre-ordering“. The brand is also transparent about the products used to make the pillow hypoallergenic and anti-mite. They do not use biocide like most of their competitors. Which are very harmful to the environment but also for our health. It has replaced it with a product that is harmless to the environment and to humans.

E-commerce must become transparent and ethical. Consumers are increasingly interested in the products they buy. They want to consume responsibly. Offering products/services that follow this approach is a good way to share healthy and sustainable values with your consumers.

E-commerce innovation: Augmented reality

Augmented reality can be defined as the fusion of the real world and the digital world. In marketing, augmented reality adds value to customers by drawing their attention to the innovative nature of augmented reality.

A company can then provide real-time information to its customers. The relationship can then be made more immediate and personal.

In concrete terms, an online shop can optimize a customer’s experience through augmented reality.

It can use mobile applications such as virtual fitting or 3D fitting, which allows customers to test a product on their bodies before buying them.

Here is a more telling example with the brand Eyeconic, which offers the “Online 3D Trial” of different pairs of glasses.

Artificial intelligence

At present, it is possible to use artificial intelligence tools to improve the online customer experience through the personalization of content and customer experience.

At the moment, the use of artificial intelligence could save valuable time for users, improve the effectiveness of advertising devices and implement algorithmic solutions that will allow, for example, to perfect chatbots, obtain tailor-made product recommendations and build a personalized marketing strategy. it is a huge e-commerce innovation, that will take time to be found on most websites.

You will find the applications of AI in e-commerce in this article.

Voice search, an other e-commerce innovation

By 2025, it is estimated that 75% of American households will have a smart speaker. Although voice search is still a dark horse for some users, Alexa, Siri, and Amazon Echo are slowly becoming part of many people’s daily lives.

As an e-commerce store owner, what you can do is optimize voice search and enable visitors to perform voice-based search commands and navigation on the website (or at least on its mobile version). This will be a major investment, and you may be able to postpone it for a while. However, if your target market belongs to a population that already relies heavily on voice commands, now is the time.

Stockless e-commerce

Creating a stockless shop can be the best solution to sell products easily and quickly on the Internet. This business, also known as dropshipping, allows you to sell a supplier’s products without managing logistics or buying products beforehand.

When you generate a sale on your website, you simply contact your supplier and give them the customer information. Such as their order and delivery location. The supplier will take care of the delivery of the order and you will only have to recuperate the margin that you will have made on this sale.

Therefore, there is no need to have stock. It is the supplier who manages the stocks and the delivery. The initial investment is therefore limited. This allows the e-merchant to concentrate on its core business: online sales.

To create an online shop without permanent stock and to follow the various trends listed above, it is important to choose suppliers in France or Europe. Always test the products before reselling them and set correct prices. Finally, do not sell counterfeit products.

With ethical and respectful dropshipping, you are putting all the chances on your side to succeed in this business.

Finally

In a world as complex and fast-moving as ours, it is essential to look at e-commerce innovation and trends. Where e-commerce was sometimes still a timid project for certain brands, it has become a priority with the crisis of Covid-19. It is now a question of building a sustainable, adaptive and reactive model. Eco-responsibility and ethical approaches are promising avenues of development. The crisis has not slowed down innovation, and that’s good for the customer experience and the competitiveness of brands!

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